There are two chapters assigned for today!
SCRIPTURE: 2 Chronicles 17
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the example of his father’s early years and did not worship the images of Baal. He sought his father’s God and obeyed his commands instead of following the evil practices of the kingdom of Israel. So the Lord established Jehoshaphat’s control over the kingdom of Judah. [2 Chronicles 17:3-5]
According to Paul, God does not show favouritism [Romans 2:11]; then why does He favour Jehoshaphat and help him in this way?
We could also ask why God blesses those who seek Him first – isn’t this favouritism?
This is a flawed understanding of God’s blessing, and a misunderstanding of God’s favour.
Favouritism is arbitrary, but God’s blessing is tied to a standard.
Good deeds are encouraged, bad deeds are discouraged; good hearts are blessed, bad hearts are judged.
Like a gardener working to produce the best crop, he must root out the weeds.
Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand! [Matthew 13:40-43]
God does not randomly like some flowers in His garden, and not others; He nurtures the plants that produce healthy fruit and He prunes and removes the plants that are unhealthy, destructive, poisonous.
Read the words of Paul about favouritism in their full context:
There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. But there will be glory and honour and peace from God for all who do good—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. For God does not show favouritism. [Romans 2:9-11]
Jehoshaphat was taking a stand against immorality, violence, cruelty against the innocent, vile religious practices that dehumanized and destroyed – its a good thing that he did this!
Jesus will ultimately root out those who do what is evil, everything and everyone that causes sin – its a good thing that He does this!
We cannot and will not experience God’s paradise – the life we were made for – unless He does this!
God cannot bless the act of rape, nor can He curse the act of honesty.
God must sort out the weeds in His garden, weeds such as murder, injustice, deception, cruelty, etc. cannot be ignored or tolerated.
God’s favouritism is not based on secondary things like race or social status or religious practice; His favouritism is rooted in the heart-response to Him and to His creation order.
Are we then saved and blessed for what we do, or because of God’s grace? The answer is grace!
Jehoshaphat was not blessed because he did everything right, but because his heart was pointed in the right direction; there were all kinds of moral failures on his part, just as there were for David.
But God discerns that he wants to be obedient, he recognizes his need for God’s mercy and help.
At the end of the day, those who know their need for mercy and help and genuinely desire to honour God, these are the one’s God cannot help but bless – they best reflect what He created us to be!
He overlooks their failures, He sees their stumbling efforts to do the right thing, He discerns that they hunger and thirst for righteousness (i.e. the right kind of life).
PRAYER:
Lord, You know my failures, You know my follies. But You also know my heart, You know that deep down I want to live Your kind of life. Help me and bless me to attain this life, that I might honour You and bless others!